What a Prelude!

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm.

 Let nothing move you. 

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, 

because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:58

More than mere routine or motion

More than pausing to behold

Mist of morning’s silver ocean

Melting in a flood of gold

More than gates where day breaks open

Musky, dusky, dewy hush

More than courtesies of heaven

To renew earth's pull and push

More than merely making hist’ry

More than money earned and spent

This is more than ‘breaking mys’try’

Set beneath a big sky tent

More than hope and disappointment

Vying for a front row seat

More than ling’ring in a moment

Where duty and dream compete

More than mere taking and giving

More than Belief tried by doubt   

What waits in the wings of living

Is what life is all about

More than summer in full flower

More than laughter, longing-shod

More than hour over hour

 These, but steppingstones to God

© Janet Martin

Inspired as I joined early morning rush-hour traffic to take Melissa to catch the train back to TO.

Then, as I rolled back in our driveway and everywhere I looked the howl of to-do chores almost drowned out the hush I almost chose to rush instead of write but…life’s give-laugh-love is more than push and shove, sweat and get all dirty, 

(which I am about to be😎)

Happy First Friday of August 2018!

Soft The Soulful Toll of Harvest...

A few glimpses of inspiration for this poem...

 

Soft the soulful toll of harvest sweeps the golden country-side

Gathers summer’s lisping darlings into farewell’s fulsome tide

Gaze is filled with praise and hunger; nothing stays the same for long

Sifting childhood from its youngster with each lusty leap and song

Earthy tables groan with mercy; we are humbled hulls of need

Knowing how beyond our doing is the surge that stirs the seed

Now the urge of nature’s calling sweetens farmer’s sweat and toil

Where the culling and the hauling is like laughter from the soil

Time’s Supreme Design of seasons chimes in lilies of the field

Climbs through fences where the drifter smiles, mesmerized by its yield

Turn the other cheek my sweetheart, brush those salty stars away

We have this one thing in common; none can dodge the death of day

Ah, the Architect of summer formed autumn and winter too

Authored it with the same goodness as sweet August’s dust and dew

Soft the soulful toll of summer rolls across stubble-cleft dunes

Siphons from silence a ballad laden with lost afternoons

© Janet Martin

Restoration-place

Lest life’s labyrinth of longing

Weaves a cleaving copse of vines

In a place beneath the face that

Exhibits visual designs

Lest the fabric-work of failure

Chokes us with its hidden thread

Lest the siege of silent sorrow

Fills faith’s humble hope with dread

Lest love’s heart and soul commitment

Battles barriers in vain

And the dominance of Duty

Wields its warfare without gain

Lest the load life deems we shoulder

Breaks more than our backs today

We should never touch dawn’s tarmac

Without bowing first to pray

…then the Captain of these squadrons

Bearing deathless souls within

Heartens those who truly trust Him

For the forgiveness of sin

Pacifies the cries of longing

Frees us from failure’s despair

Breaks the siege of silent sorrow

As God's Mercy meets man's prayer 

Ah, now we can fight temptation

Find fresh courage for Now-Here

Invisible restoration

As we pray, faith conquers fear

© Janet Martin

 Be joyful in hope,
patient in affliction,
faithful in prayer.

 Rom.12:12

Some storms are simply not calmed as quickly or visibly as yesterday's 'bean-storm'.

 (the joys of a week away from the garden...)

Off For An Extended Coffee-break!

 R&R Time!

Sea you soon😊

(Hoping for less opportunity for shots like these this year!)

Trying to be optimistic in spite of this!

 Hiking

And biking

Ignoring the clock

Reading

And writing

Coffee on the dock

Barbecue,

Me and you

Ah, holidays

Lake-lull

And sea-gull

And thanks-full

Of praise

Canoeing,

And swimming

And soaking up rest

Time out

With family

Is life and love's best

Laughter

And after

This chapter is penned

Memory-

Keepsakes

That never end

© Janet Martin

Summer-lovers Prayer

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. John Lubbock
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/summer

 Summer Afternoon, 

Summer Afternoon.

To me those have always been 

the two most beautiful words 

in the English Language

Henry James~

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. John Lubbock
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/summer

Lord, let me live to touch and taste

Each day with purpose and intent

The clock tick-tocks with subtle haste

Soon favourite summer-days are spent

Lord, let me not look back and cry

Alas, alack and then lament

With wishful woulda-shoulda sigh  

These favourite summer days now spent

Lord, let me have and hold, for oh

We know how swift Time folds its tent

And insists on our letting go

Of favourite summer days soon spent

© Janet Martin